Archive for the 'Ducks' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

Home and away contests against three teams make up the Ducks' 2015 preseason schedule, the team officially announced Wednesday.

The Ducks will open up their six-game slate Sept. 22 at Colorado before facing the Kings at Honda Center on Sept. 25. They'll visit San Jose the next night to take on the Sharks.

The Ducks will play the Kings at Staples Center on Sept. 29 and then finish their schedule with home games against Colorado and San Jose on Oct. 1 and Oct. 3. Home contests against the Kings and Avalanche are at 7 p.m. while the Sharks' game is at 6 p.m.

The Ducks signed defenseman Korbinian Holzer to a one-year contract, the team announced Thursday.

Holzer will make $750,000 on a one-way deal. The 27-year-old native of Munich, Germany did not appear in a game for the Ducks after coming to the team in a March deadline trade with Toronto for defenseman Eric Brewer and a 2016 fifth-round pick.

Holzer has appeared in 58 NHL games with the Maple Leafs, including 34 last season before the trade. He'll likely serve as the extra defenseman when he is up with the Ducks or add experience to their American Hockey League squad if he clears waivers and is sent down.

Honda Center is the home of the Ducks and it might also serve as a western base for the future Swedish national team.

Fine representatives of the hockey-loving Scandinavian country already dot the roster and the Ducks added to that Saturday by securing versatile winger Carl Hagelin from the New York Rangers on another busy day to highlight their work at the NHL draft.

Following up on an active end to the first day of the NHL draft, the Ducks opened up the second day by trading for Hagelin and Carolina Hurricanes goalie Anton Khudobin.

The Ducks sent winger Emerson Etem and swapped second-round picks with the Rangers to get Hagelin. Hagelin, 26, had 17 goals and 18 assists in his fourth season with the Rangers and is due to become a restricted free agent on Wednesday.

And with Hagelin, the Ducks add him to Swedish group that includes defenseman Hampus Lindholm, winger Jakob Silfverberg and center Rickard Rakell. Hagelin won a 2014 Olympic silver medal with Silfverberg in Sochi.

The Ducks hired former Edmonton Oilers coach Dallas Eakins on Friday to lead the San Diego Gulls, their American Hockey League affiliate that will begin its inaugural season in California.

Eakins, 48, coached the Oilers to a 29-44-9 record in 2013-14 and a 7-19-5 mark to begin last season before being let go on Dec. 15.

Before getting his first NHL coaching job, Eakins had tremendous success at the AHL level as he coached the Toronto Marlies for four seasons and led them to a 157-114-41 record and an appearance in the 2012 Calder Cup final.

While he didn't win in Edmonton with a young group of players, Eakins feels he is now "10 times the coach now when I was when I came out of Toronto."

"It seemed to be a tough situation right off the bat," Eakins said. "It’s something that I learned a ton of lessons personally. Hopefully if I do get a chance down the road to coach in the NHL, I’ll be a little bit better prepared to handle some of those situations."

The Ducks signed winger Max Friberg to a two-year contract extension on Thursday. Terms were not disclosed.

[UPDATE: The Register learned that Friberg's contract is a two-way deal that will pay him $575,000 if he plays in the NHL next season and $75,000 in the American Hockey League. The contract increases to $600,000 and $90,000 in 2016-17.]

Friberg, 22, led the AHL's Norfolk Admirals with 40 points in 58 gams and his 15 goals were tied for team best with Chris Wagner. The native of Skovde, Sweden also made his NHL debut on Dec. 8 against Vancouver in his only game with the Ducks last season.

Bruce Boudreau was a former winner of the Jack Adams Award as the NHL coach of the year and he is set to have another on his staff with the Ducks.

Sources confirmed to the Register on Thursday that the Ducks are close to hiring former Ottawa coach Paul MacLean as an assistant to Boudreau. The Ducks had received permission to speak to MacLean nearly two weeks ago.

TSN's Bob McKenzie reported Thursday that MacLean and the Ducks were "on the verge" of a deal.

MacLean is a two-time Adams finalist who won it in 2013 after leading the injury-racked Senators to the playoffs with a 25-17-6 record in the lockout-shortened season despite not having Erik Karlsson, Jason Spezza and Craig Anderson for significant lengths of time.

The Senators fired MacLean on Dec. 8, replacing him with Dave Cameron after an 11-11-5 start. MacLean, 57, was a long-time assistant under Mike Babcock in Anaheim and Detroit and had 324 goals and 349 assists over a 10-year playing career.

The Ducks will open their 2015-16 regular schedule on Oct. 10 at San Jose when they face their Pacific Division rival Sharks.

Following that game, the Ducks will start a four-game homestand with their home opener against Vancouver on Oct. 12. They'll face the reigning Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 27 in Chicago in a rematch of the Western Conference finals.

The Blackhawks will pay their first visit in the Ducks' annual Black Friday matinee on Nov. 27.

The first of five meetings between the Ducks and Kings will take place on Jan. 17 at Honda Center. Edmonton and expected No. 1 overall pick Connor McDavid will come to Anaheim on Nov. 11.

In addition, the Ducks will end their regular season on April 9 at Colorado.

The full 2015-16 NHL schedule will be announced Thursday but teams have released their home openers Wednesday and the Ducks will face Vancouver on Oct. 12.

Since the league's opening night will be on Oct. 7, it means that the Ducks will start their season on the road. Before hosting Vancouver, the Ducks will play on Oct. 10 at San Jose in what will be the Sharks' home opener.

It isn't clear yet if that is also the Ducks' first game of the season. The Ducks, who lost to Chicago in the Western Conference finals, have won three consecutive Pacific Division titles.

The Ducks are expected to have their new high definition scoreboard at Honda Center ready in time for the season. In terms of square footage, it will be more than four times larger than the previous scoreboard that had been used since the arena was built in 1993.

ANAHEIM -- Here is the expected lineup that the Ducks will start with against the Chicago Blackhawks for Game 7 of the Western Conference finals on Saturday night at Honda Center. After allowing four goals only twice in his first 12 playoff starts, Frederik Andersen (11-4, 2.18 GAA, .919 SV%) has been beaten four or more times in each of the last three games. With 13 goals allowed on 90 shots, Andersen's save percentage in Games 4-6 is .855. It will be his first Game 7. Coach Bruce Boudreau said there's a "good chance" that Tomas Fleischmann comes back in for Emerson Etem as he opts for more experience. Fleischmann was the leading scorer in the American Hockey League playoffs when he played on Boudreau's Hershey team that won the 2006 Calder Cup. "I just think an experienced guy and he's been through these wars," Boudreau said. "He's played in Game 7s, he's been in championship games. ... So he knows what to do in these situations." Ducks players are 7-28 in Game 7s but this will be the first one for Fleischmann, Ryan Kesler, Clayton Stoner and Nate Thompson.

CHICAGO -- Here is the expected lineup that the Ducks will start with against the Chicago Blackhawks for Game 6 of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday night at United Center. Frederik Andersen (11-3, 2.06 GAA, .925 SV%) will try to rebound from his worst game of the playoffs after allowing three questionable goals among the four he gave up in 28 shots faced. Chicago has managed to put the puck past Andersen nine times in the last two games. Emerson Etem will return to the lineup, with Tomas Fleischmann coming back out. Etem didn't play in Game 5 but scored his third goal of the playoffs in the Ducks' 5-4 double-overtime Game 4 defeat. Patrick Maroon's six goals tie him with Ryan Kesler for third on the Ducks. Jiri Sekac's playoff action has come in this series and the winger has five shots on goal and a plus-1 rating in the five games.